* **Has been 13 years since David Moyes’ last home game before moving to Man Utd.**
* **Everton defeated West Ham United 2-0 in the Scotsman’s farewell match.**
* **Now he is back with the Blues and has them back in European contention.**
David Moyes returned to manage Everton in January 2025, after leaving the club 12 years prior to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
His journey from leaving Merseyside to reunifying with the Toffees was a varied one, as the Scotsman struggled to gain any traction at United and suffered relegation from the Premier League with Sunderland.
But after a turbulent few years in management, he found his feet again with West Ham United, and ended up winning his first major trophy as a manager in the Europa Conference League.
Now he has returned to Merseyside, how much different are Everton from Moyes’ first spell with the Blues?
In his first period at Everton, Moyes’ final home match was against a side he would go on to manage twice, West Ham.
The Toffees came out as 2-0 winners thanks to a couple of goals from [Kevin Mirallas](http://bbc.com/sport/football/22417758), and the Scot ended his time at Goodison on a high note.
* **XI vs WHU** – T. Howard, S. Coleman, P. Jagielka, S. Distin, L. Baines, K. Mirallas, D. Gibson, L. Osman, S. Pienaar, M. Fellaini, V. Anichebe.
* **XI vs CPFC** – J. Pickford, J. O’Brien, J. Tarkowski, M. Keane, V. Mykolenko, J. Garner, T. Iroegbunam, K. Dewsbury-Hall, M. Rohl, I. Ndiaye, Beto.
The table above shows the starting XI’s from the victory against the Hammers and Everton’s most recent match [against Crystal Palace](https://readeverton.com/beto-everton-crystal-palace-draw-reaction/).
There is an evident variation in quality between the squads, with the 2013 side having the far superior full backs, but the modern-day team featuring a better goalkeeper and striker.
Yet there are some glaring similarities between them, even though there are 13 years between the XI’s.
Rohl has picked the position of a towering midfield powerhouse, Fellaini.
Dewsbury-Hall operates as an effective link in the middle of the park and on the wings, Osman.
And Ndiaye is a skillful winger whose trickery gets Everton into good attacking positions, Pienaar.
So after such a long time away from the Toffees, Moyes appears to be using a similar blueprint compared to that of the one in 2013.
Whether this is a good or a bad sign for the Blues is purely objective.
But it must be noted that Moyes did not drop outside of the top eight in his last seven years with Everton, and much of it was down to the tactics that he still uses today.
Disappointing defeats and draws have led to some criticising Moyes, with the belief that he has not changed since leaving in 2013, and he continues to ‘play it safe’.
However, when questioning the Toffees’ progression under the 63-year-old, they are a better team than when he picked up the top job at Everton in January 2025.
The Blues are fighting for a European spot for the first time in five years, their away form is at its best since the days of Carlo Ancelotti, and they are on track to score the most amount of goals in a league season since their 2020-21 campaign.
Everton’s long-term project is going to be a tough one.
After years of dealing with financial uncertainties, now they have the opportunity to rebuild.
One of the biggest what-ifs of Moyes’ first spell with the Blues was, where could he have taken his side with proper financial backing?
Now he has the chance to reveal the answer to this question, and he has made an admirable start.